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Feds appoint members to net-zero advisory board, FPAC announces support

Last week, the federal government announced the members of the new Net-Zero Advisory Board, which will identify the steps Canada needs to take to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Members, who represent the scientific, academic, Indigenous, labour relations, cleantech/energy and climate change/environment spheres, will serve on a part-time basis for a renewable term of up to three years. They will engage with stakeholders, Indigenous people, youth, experts and the public on how the country will achieve its net-zero emissions goal.

In a statement, the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) says it welcomes the non-partisan appointments made by Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

“Canada’s forest sector was one of the few industries that supported the Kyoto Protocol, we were an early adopter of Paris Agreement commitments, and we will be there again to help power the drive to a net-zero carbon Canadian economy by 2050,” says Derek Nighbor, president of FPAC.

“We have the unique opportunity to go beyond net-zero and can do this by:

• Sequestering carbon and reducing land-based emissions through climate smart forestry and sustainably managing forests in the face of worsening pest, drought, and catastrophic fire risks;
• Locking carbon into long-lived wood products and innovative wood building construction;
• Building on our successful track record of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at our mills. Carbon emissions at Canadian forest product mills have been reduced by nearly 70 per cent since the early 1990s and we can do more;
• Using what would otherwise be wood waste to further green our operations and providing lower-carbon materials and biofuels to help other industries decarbonize.

“Canada’s working forests and Canadian-made forest products can help us fight climate change and drive post-pandemic economic recovery.

We look forward to supporting the work of the Net-Zero Advisory Board so we can unlock both the environmental and economic potential of our sector, its people, and forestry communities across the country.”